The February 27 Heroclix Pre-Tournament Report

Random musings cleverly disguised as an article.

I’ll be going to another Heroclix tournament on Thursday, and that means I need to assemble a team. Whenever I sit down to make a team for Heroclix, a number of factors run through my head.

1) I really want to use my Veteran Hulk, but at 147 points in a 300 point game I probably won’t.
2) I always include my two favorite characters as the basis of any team, and then add or subtract from there. These two favorites happen to be the unique Wasp (44 points, action advantage monster) and the unique Moondragon (71 points, arguably the best psychic in the game).
3) A lot of people build teams around one or two huge characters. A single Outwit can throw off their entire strategy.
4) I used a Batman team last time, and I want to try something new.
5) It’s important to always use a balanced force, with at least one high-damage ranged fighter and one other melee bruiser.

Given those five points, what comes next? First off, I need to evaluate the potential use of my psychic Moondragon. Given the nature of public tournaments, I can expect to face a lot of big huge characters designed to bludgeon their way to a win—is mind control an effective answer to these guys, given that I take damage from using it on expensive characters? In almost every case, I say the answer is yes. Even if I take damage from doing it, using the other guy’s Superman to shoot his own medic in the back is pretty priceless. Mind control gives you inherent action advantage, allows for great surprises, and has the potential to double your range. It’s my current favorite power, and I can’t imagine not using it.

That said, I’m not sure that Moondragon is the psychic for me; the White Queen (Experienced) is another strong contender, and very similar at 80 points. On the one hand, Moondragon can fly and has a range of 10, while the White Queen is grounded and has a range of 8. On the other hand, Moondragon has the nearly-useless telekinesis power and is pretty fragile, while the White Queen has psychic blast and is pretty resilient to damage (i.e., her numbers stay higher for longer, and she keeps her powers for more of her clicks). I don’t worry too much about resilience, however, especially when you consider that neither is much of a fighter, and a concerted attack would wipe either one out equally well. It all comes down to range 10 vs. psychic blast, and after thinking about it for a while I think the long range wins. After all, Moondragon eventually gains psychic blast after a couple of clicks of damage, and all of my early attacks should involve mind control instead of psychic blast anyway.

So, Moondragon it is. While we’re here, let me explain my love of Wasp: as an Avenger she can move for free, and as a leadership character she can attack for free 50% of the time. She can fly, so her free movement can often give other figures a lift. She can incapacitate two targets, which is absolutely crazy (consider this: if she uses her free action to incapacitate two targets, I essentially get a three-action advantage over my opponent for no cost). Add to that a healthy starting defense of 19, and you’ve got a powerhouse character for only 44 points. I’ll keep her on the team for now, though I’m not convinced that the team is big enough for both she and Moondragon.

I have 185 points left, and it’s time to start thinking about some heavy damage. Given that I have two flyers, a slam-dunk strategy suggests itself: if I take a character with charge and super strength, I can taxi it into range, grab an object, and smash somebody in the face for up to seven damage on the very first turn (provided, of course, that I go second; if I don’t , I can just sit back and wait until they come into range). My two characters who fit the bill here are the Thing (Experienced) and She-Hulk (Veteran). She-Hulk is 10 points more, at a whopping 120, but she has a speed of ten and thus a charge of five (whereas the Thing can only charge four spaces). Given that She-Hulk is also a lot harder to kill than the Thing, I think the extra ten points are worth it.

That gives me three characters (all women, surprisingly) at a total of 235 points; I have 65 left, and I need a ranged fighter. Cyclops come easily to mind, thanks to a range of 10 and a ranged damage of four, but at 55 points he leaves me with an annoying hole that I can only really fill with a thug (though to be fair, that thug has run some pretty good interference in his day). The only other really cheap ranged fighter I have is Bullseye, but he only does three damage instead of four. Klaw would be a good choice, but he’s 74 points—it might be a good idea to take Thing instead of She-Hulk just so I can use him.

My current team, then, is this:
Moondragon 71
Wasp 44
Thing 110
Klaw 74

It’s a good team, though it doesn’t make much use of Wasp’s leadership—she might have to go in favor of some utility powers like Outwit and Probability Control. At present it’s a very mobile, hard-hitting team that will probably waste a lot of it’s actions when it can’t move every other turn. I’d like to get some small, efficient guys in there, and probably a medic. I’ll think about it and come back with some new ideas, but you need to think about it to. That’s what we have a forum for, after all.

Written by Fellfrosch on February 24th, 2003